


To Mark Someone

by StaciNadia



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alpha Derek Hale, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Emissary Stiles Stilinski, Future Fic, Happy Ending, Implied Sexual Content, M/M, Minor Allison Argent/Scott McCall, Minor Lydia Martin/Jackson Whittemore, Minor Vernon Boyd/Erica Reyes, Pining Derek Hale, Post-Coital, Protective Stiles, Scott McCall & Stiles Stilinski Friendship, Stiles Stilinski is Derek Hale's Anchor, Tattooed Stiles Stilinski
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-24
Updated: 2017-12-24
Packaged: 2019-02-13 18:52:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,483
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12990354
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StaciNadia/pseuds/StaciNadia
Summary: Stiles returns home after a couple of months of emissary training.





	To Mark Someone

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the Eternal Sterek Secret Santa on Tumblr! I wrote a tattooed emissary Stiles AU for [Potrix-the-queerschlaeger](http://potrix-the-queerschlaeger.tumblr.com/)! The title comes from Stiles saying the definition of "to tattoo"!

The Hale pack was gathered in Derek’s loft, but none of them was really doing anything. They were all lounging around trying to distract themselves from thinking about the one pack member who wasn‘t there. He would be returning today after a couple of months away on the east coast. The high level of anticipation was practically palpable in the air.

“Are you going to the airport to pick him up, Scott?” Isaac asked wide-eyed, slightly bouncing on the couch.

“Nah, his dad’s picking him up,” Scott replied, patting Isaac on the shoulder. “They’re going to spend a little time together, and then he’ll come here.” He looked up at the large clock on the wall. “You know, he’s probably landing right about now!” He started bouncing along with Isaac.

“I am _so_ excited my Batman’s finally coming back! It’s been way too long that he’s been away from us,” Erica pouted from her place in Boyd’s lap, her arms wrapped around him.

It had been the longest that Stiles had been away from home. All of the pack members except for Derek had just finished their third year of college, but while the rest of the pack came back home to Beacon Hills for the summer, if they had even left, Stiles had flown out to the east coast for some emissary training. 

The emissary of the old Hale pack, Deaton, still lived in Beacon Hills and had started training Stiles after he had discovered the boy‘s potential. Unfortunately, Deaton was a druid and Stiles a spark, so Deaton hadn’t been able to train him to his full potential due to the difference in how they used their powers. 

Despite the fact that most of the Hale family had been killed over a decade ago, there were still packs around the country that considered the Hales, both old and new, their allies. An old friend of Talia’s, the emissary to the Lewis pack in Massachusetts, had offered to train their young spark, and Stiles had decided to take her up on it. 

While his pack was getting more and more excited about Stiles‘ impending return, Derek was becoming more and more irritable. He just wanted Stiles home so he could rub his face all over him and breathe in his unique scent. No, no, he wouldn’t be doing that. Stiles wasn’t his. He just _wished_ he could be.

“It’s too bad that he’s only going to be here for a few weeks before we all have to leave for our last year of college,” Lydia lamented, examining her fresh manicure with a critical eye. 

“It’ll be okay,” Allison smiled at her friend. “We’ll enjoy the time that we do have with him, and we can all Skype each other like usual during the school year!”

Scott turned to his girlfriend with a dopey smile. “Isn’t she so wonderful?” he said dreamily. “She’s being so positive!”

Isaac cuffed Scott on the back of the head, who yelped in pain. “That’s from Stiles, since you know he would do that whenever you go gaga over Allison.” He leaned behind Scott to grin over at Allison. “No offense, Ally.”

Allison giggled. “None taken!”

“Well, _I_ didn’t miss him at all,” Jackson declared, crossing his arms. “I was personally thrilled that he’s been gone. It’s been a lot quieter around here without him!”

“Please,” Lydia raised a perfect eyebrow. “You and I watched Star Wars at my house a few weeks ago, and you kept saying exactly the sort of things that Stiles says during the movie. It was almost as if you were trying to make up for him not being here.” She fixed Jackson with a knowing look.

Jackson turned away, and even the humans could tell he was embarrassed. “Whatever,” he muttered. Lydia’s smile broadened with satisfaction and kissed his cheek.

Derek loved his pack like family, but he couldn’t stand listening to any more chatter. He growled loudly at them, flashing his red eyes at them, causing everyone to fall silent and bare their necks to him. 

“He’ll be here soon, boss,” Boyd said placatingly. Boyd’s calm demeanor in the face of pretty much everything was one of the reasons why he was Derek’s second. “You’ll see him soon.”

Derek had always suspected that his pack knew of his feelings for their emissary, some of them even back when they had still been in high school. He had taught the wolves about chemosignals and how emotions had certain scents to them, and eventually the pack was able to pick up on his feelings whenever he’d been around Stiles. But since Stiles had never acted any differently around him, Derek’d figured that none of them had ever said anything to their pack member about it.

Either that or Stiles just wasn’t interested in Derek and had decided not to say anything so he wouldn’t make anything awkward. Derek cringed at his miserable thoughts and the fact that at least the werewolves would know how he was feeling, and most likely Lydia as well.

“Alright,” Lydia stood up, clapping her hands. “We’ll do something quiet while we wait for Stiles. We can always watch The Notebook.”

Everyone groaned, including Derek, but he let her put in the movie that they had watched far too often over the years for any of their tastes. At least he could just daydream during the movie about what it would be like if it was his boyfriend and mate, instead of just his friend and emissary, was coming home.

**********

As the movie’s final credits scrolled by and Jackson discreetly wiped some tears away, Derek was the first to hear the distinct but faint sound of Stiles’ Jeep. He looked up in anticipation. A few seconds later, the rest of the wolves perked up as well, big grins on their face. “He must be coming,” Lydia said with a smirk to Allison, whose eyes danced with excitement at the news.

The group was silent as they heard the old motor of Stiles’ beloved Jeep get louder as it pulled into the garage attached to the building. Everyone, even Derek, was holding back the urge to run to the loft door while waiting for the emissary to make it upstairs to the loft.

Finally, the wolves heard the soft ding of the elevator and everyone heard footsteps making their way to the loft door and the sound of a key unlocking the front door. At last, the door slid open. “Hey, everybody!” shouted a familiar voice. “Did you miss me?”

Before Derek could drink in the form of Stiles, Scott leaped up from the couch immediately and rushed over to his best friend who he considered his brother in everything but blood. They fell to the ground from the force of Scott’s hug, the two of them laughing.

“I missed you, too, Scotty!” Stiles said, wiping his eyes from laughing so hard.

Isaac and Boyd got up and helped the two up off the floor. Then everyone rushed over to Stiles, hugging him and asking him questions.

Derek was the last to approach Stiles. He looked over the young man who he hadn’t seen since spring break. He seemed to be more confident in his skin, and that confidence made him even more attractive. His mole-spotted skin was as pale as ever, and his eyes looked like they were shining gold in the lamplight. 

Derek was hesitant in hugging Stiles, but the emissary smiled and said, “It’s great to see you again, big guy! Come ‘ere, you!” And with that, he wrapped his own arms around the alpha first and rested his head on his shoulder. Derek hugged him back and inhaled his scent, which immediately took all his irritation away. Stiles was back with the pack at last.

After alpha and emissary separated, the excited questions from the pack started.

“Was emissary training difficult?” Lydia asked.

“Did you bring us presents?” Erica batted her eyes innocently.

Stiles chuckled. “Of course I did, Catwoman! I’ve got them in my backpack! And yes, the training was tough, but it was worth it being able to protect the pack better. Just wait till you guys see this spell I learned that can sense whether someone’s words are true or false! I’m gonna be just like you awesome wolves!”

“You’re already awesome, Stiles!” Isaac said shyly.

Stiles looked surprised, then wrapped an arm around the curly-haired wolf. “That is so sweet, Isaac!”

The emissary then took off his red hoodie, and Derek narrowed his eyes. There was a small bit of red ink at the bottom of Stiles’ neck, very much like the ink used to make a tattoo. But Stiles had always been afraid of tattoos. Could he have gotten one anyways?

Before he could say anything, Scott noticed the ink, too. “Hey, what’s this, bro?” he asked, slightly pulling down the collar of Stiles’ shirt. “Is that a tattoo?”

Stiles pulled his shirt out of Scott’s grip and made it straight again. “Yeah. I had to as part of my training.”

Allison gasped. “Show it to us, Stiles! Please?”

Stiles glanced over at Derek, and for the first time, the emissary looked uncertain. He opened his mouth as if to say something, but after a few moments, he waved his hand in a dismissive gesture. He turned around, showing his back to the pack, and removed the t-shirt he wore.

There was a collective gasp from the pack. The big of red that Derek had seen was from a red hooded cloak reminiscent of Little Red Riding Hood’s, but without a body underneath it. Instead, the long cloak surrounded a full moon, with the triskelion of the Hale pack inside of it. Surrounding the red hood was wolfsbane flowers, bullets, clawed hands, and faceless shadows.

Derek, who had been struck silent by the tattoo, finally managed to stammer out, “This… this is…”

“This is Little Red Riding Hood protecting his pack,” Stiles said, looking over his shoulder. He looked at each pack member in turn, then finally his eyes bore directly into the alpha’s. “Making sure that no hunters or wolves or any other supernatural creatures hurt you. My magic is for protecting you.” 

The room was silent as Derek and Stiles’ eyes remained locked on each other. The tension in the room was so high that even the humans could easily sense it. Finally, Erica said, “Alright, I’m out of here. Come on, everyone!”

Scott stared at her openmouthed. “But I want to see Stiles! It‘s been months!” he whined, then yelped in pain as Erica grabbed onto his ear.

She dragged him towards the loft door. “Stiles and Derek need to have a discussion.” The look she gave the two of them clearly said, _Get your acts together._ The she blew Stiles a kiss, slid the door open, and flounced out of the loft.

The rest of the pack just grabbed their things without protest and filed out of the loft. Scott, who hadn’t followed Erica out, fist bumped Stiles before he left. Boyd, who stayed behind to collect Erica and his stuff, mouthed “Good luck” at Derek before leaving, sliding the loft door shut behind him. 

Once it was just the two of them in the loft, Derek walked over to Stiles and pressed him gently into the nearest wall. “Some things never change, eh, Sourwolf?” Stiles asked cheekily, grinning at him. “It was never this gentle, though. Losing your grrr-iness?”

“Shut up, Stiles,” Derek said without any heat behind it and pressed closer to Stiles. There was barely an inch of space between their bodies. “You want to protect the pack. You had it written on your body for everyone to see.” His voice was so low, he was practically growling.

Stiles swallowed. “Yeah,” he got out.

“You want to protect… me?” Derek asked, sounding vulnerable. He hoped he hadn’t misinterpreted Stiles’ intent.

Stiles reached up and touched Derek’s arm. “Yeah, big guy,” he practically whispered.

Derek couldn‘t say who‘d started it, but they were both wrapping their arms around each other and kissing passionately. Stiles touched Derek’s face and stubble reverently while Derek’s arms rubbed up and door the bare skin of Stiles’ torso.

When they finally separated, Stiles was breathing heavily and staring with awe at Derek. “That was even better than I ever imagined it,” he declared.

Derek leaned in and they started kissing again. Bodies, lips, and tongues tangled together, Derek led Stiles carefully to the staircase leading to his bedroom. They separated only to climb up the spiral staircase, and then they were wrapped around each other again, falling to the bed together.

**********

Hours later, when the two were laying in bed naked with only Derek’s sheets draped over them, Stiles was lightly dozing on his stomach while Derek mindlessly traced the triskelion on the emissary’s back. He still couldn’t believe that Stiles had the Hale symbol tattooed onto his body.

“At’re you doing, Sourwolf?” came a sleepy voice below him.

“Just admiring your tattoo,” Derek responded. “I’m surprised you actually got one considering how you fainted when Scott got his.” He chuckled lightly.

Stiles rolled over onto his side, and Derek regretfully let go of Stiles’ back as he moved. “Like I said, I had to get one,” he explained. “The way my spark works, I have to have a tattoo guiding me, and it has to be something that‘s important to me, why I use my magic. The tattoo focuses it. I just wanted to protect you and the pack a lot. So that‘s why I have this big old thing.” He indicated his back. “I guess it’s sort of like a werewolf’s anchor.”

“You’ve been my anchor for years now,” Derek whispered. “Once I let go of my anger, you were the one who popped into my mind and gave me focus.”

Stiles’ cheeks pinked. “Wow, who knew that Derek Hale could be so romantic?” he said in awe.

“It’s true,” Derek told him, taking his hand in his own.

Stiles put his other hand on top of their two joined ones. “Well, now you’re sort of like an anchor for me, too.” He smiled softly. 

It was so peaceful, Derek thought, laying there with Stiles in bed, the moonlight shining in on their bodies. It seemed like all was right in the world for once.

“Derek?”

He looked down at Stiles. “Yes?”

“Do you think that maybe we can do this again? Maybe with dinner and a movie along with the amazing sex?” Stiles looked up at him with his large brown eyes.

Derek laughed. “I’ve been wanting that for years, Stiles.”

Stiles beamed. “Yeah? Me, too.”

It was way too early to talk about forever, but Derek couldn’t help but feel like this had the potential to last for a lifetime or beyond.

**********

He was totally right.


End file.
